One of the most frequently asked questions I get after doing e-commerce education and consulting for a long time is SEO. Today, I would like to organize SEO, a word that comes up so often but somehow feels difficult to become familiar with.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and there’s nothing mysterious about it. SEO is a measurable and repeatable process used to send search engines pages that are worthy of being indexed by Google.

Basically, Google uses a complex mathematical formula called an algorithm to assign a score to every website and every searcher to figure out which websites are best for what people are looking for.

Think of the algorithm as a set of empty boxes. One box gives you a score for the quality of your site, one box gives you a score for the number of sites that link to you, and another box gives you a score for how much people trust you. The job of SEO is to fill in more boxes in the algorithm than other websites.

It's reflected in search engine rankings by getting the highest score in terms of site quality, website authority, and being the most trusted store for what people are searching for.

The good thing about this is that there are hundreds of boxes. And for all of these boxes, these scores are added up by the algorithm to determine your ranking and also give you an opportunity to rank higher. So optimizing your site for search results means getting the highest score in as many boxes as possible. Some boxes are more valuable than others, but the three main boxes you need to know about search ranking are 'quality', 'trust', and 'authority'.

First of all, quality is something that Google is trying to measure when trying to figure out which sites to rank on: providing something valuable, unique, and interesting to Google searchers. For example, good content. For example, if you sell t-shirts, if every other t-shirt seller uses the same description on their website, you are not providing anything unique to Google searchers.

Even though your t-shirt may look pretty cool, the content is the same as everyone else's, so Google has no way of telling whether your t-shirt is better than another seller's t-shirt. So make sure you provide people with interesting content that sets you apart.

For example, we provide the ability for customers to personalize a T-shirt. We provide them with information about things they might personally want to know about, such as how to wash it, what the material or yarn is made of, how stain resistant it is, what season it is suitable for, how it feels to wear, etc.

Give people information and then get creative. You can have people share pictures of themselves wearing your t-shirt or create a community of people who are interested in your product. You can also have celebrities wear your t-shirt and share their pictures online. Whatever it is, do something different from other sellers and make it unique. Show Google that you are different and better than other search results.

Trust is another important box that you must know when trying to register your site on Google. Google does not want to show any website to the searcher, but only the best website. The algorithm is designed to show only trustworthy sites. (That is why domestic websites that are not certified with SSL are not even exposed in Google search results or Google Shopping.)

One of the things Google loves to do is penalize sites, stores, or companies that consistently get bad reviews. So if your store has a lot of negative reviews, Google doesn't want to show those sites to their searchers, so they won't rank them. That's why you need to prove to Google that you are trustworthy. Authoritative websites that are secure are supposed to be linked to users. This is done by linking to trusted websites through newspaper articles, industry links, and other trusted sites (partners, suppliers, satisfied customers, etc.).

And finally, the most important box is authority. Google wants to favor and show popular sites. For example, if someone searches online to buy a t-shirt, they will show the most popular t-shirt sellers first in the search results. Google is choosing to show the sites they prefer. So we have to convince Google to choose our site. We have to signal to Google that our site is the most popular site for the t-shirts we sell. To do this, fill this box by building a fan base. You build a fan base that loves the t-shirts you sell and you leverage that. Get on social networks, get people to link to your t-shirt pages and share them on social networks saying, “I want this!” And get people to post and show pictures of themselves wearing the product. Then build a fan base that talks about your site and your product. This is the most effective way to prove to Google that your site is trustworthy and authoritative.

If you think about it, SEO is simply the process of proving to the search engines that your site is the best site, the most authoritative, the most trustworthy, and the most unique and interesting site you can offer your customers. If you get people talking about your site, if you create good quality content, and if you get people linking to your site, Google will become more confident that your site is the best result they can offer to searchers, and they will start ranking you higher.

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